


backdraft

by alitaire



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route Spoilers, I've had this idea gnawing in my brain for weeks now just let me indulge, Mutual Pining, Time Travel, i'll update the tags as the story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2020-12-16 05:13:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21030803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alitaire/pseuds/alitaire
Summary: “We’re not going to die here today, my friend.”She squeezes his hands in return, staring back into his eyes. They can’t make it this time. She had rushed in too hastily and Claude had followed her lead. But she can change this.The magic in the air and the light below bursts forth as she reaches for the divine power inside of her and pulls—backbackback.





	1. Chapter 1

_ 31st day of the Blue Sea Moon in the Imperial year 1185 _

The air is heavy with lingering black magic as Byleth cuts down a mage from afar, using the sword’s momentum to propel herself at the mounted archer taking aim at Claude. The enemy soldier lets out a strangled cry as she kicks him off the spooked horse and he screams when the animal’s heavy hooves crush his body in a panic as she pulls at the reins. 

Byleth’s face is stony as ever, but she’s grateful when his pained cries are cut off by a single arrow, mercifully silencing him. 

“Where’s Leonie and Rhea? I thought they and the other troops were with you,” Claude asks as he swoops next to her, eyes scanning her for injuries.

“I sent them back to Marianne after that ground shaking spell. It wasn’t safe for them,” she huffs, finally calming the horse enough to direct it toward the bunker that the Shambhalan forces were hiding in. “Where’s your battalion?”

He balks a little at the question before answering with a chagrined grin. “Touché. I sent back Flayn to help treat the wounded and she couldn’t head to the back lines alone.”

“But you’re fine alone?” She glances at him with an arched brow.

“I knew you’d be here to protect me, Teach,” he winks and she can’t help her fond smile.

The smile evaporates as they approach the bunker and she leaps off the horse as it continues to run at the enemy forces inside. The confused shouts push Byleth to rush forward and unleash a torrent of searing magic at the disorganized forces. Claude is close behind, having sent Amira away. The wyvern was too large to maneuver in such a space safely. 

He supports her from behind, swiftly killing the few that had managed to escape or survive her magic as she charges forward to the center of the room, sword drawn and pulsing with power.

“So you made it this far, Fell Star,” Thales hisses before diving to the side with a grunt to narrowly avoid Claude’s arrow. His hands are glowing with magic and Byleth charges forward, remembering how he had deflected her blade five years ago. _ Not this time. With all of my power _, she thinks and slams the blade into his barrier. 

She hears Claude shouting something, but she presses harder, unheeding of the ground lighting below her as she breaks through the barrier and plunges the Sword of the Creator into Thales’s chest.

It’s hard to hear over the burble of blood but Thales manages to grunt, “You will die here,” before he goes limp. The ground is still alight.

“What’s going on?” Claude shouts when he reaches her as the air itself begins to shake around them. She turns to him, unsure, when the walls begin to shake as well, and he shoves her down with a shout of, “Watch out!” 

Everything is crashing down around them and she screws her eyes shut against the dust and debris falling upon them and the bright glow of the ground her cheek is pressed against. When the shaking has calmed to a slight tremor, they both look up to see the crumbling underground city blanketed in the soft light of sunset and multiple familiar looking blazes of light aimed directly at them.

“We need to get out of here, the javelins of light—”

Despite Claude insistently pulling her to her feet, Byleth knows. “We won’t get away in time. We’re too close to the epicenter.”

Claude stops in mid-whistle for Amira to stare at her and before grasping her hands, eyes desperate, but determined. “We’re not going to die here today, my friend.”

She squeezes his hands in return, staring back into his eyes. They can’t make it this time. She had rushed in too hastily and Claude had followed her lead. But she can change this. 

The magic in the air and the light below bursts forth as she reaches for the divine power inside of her and pulls—

back

back

_ back_.

* * *

The first sensation Byleth is aware of is a burning pain in her chest, and she collapses against the body in front of her.

“Are you alright?” Claude’s voice is tight and panicked and she looks up blearily at him, confused by the lack of greenish blue light reflecting off his face. In fact, the room they’re in is rather dark, the only light coming from beneath what she presumes is a door.

She’s never been able to turn back more than a few hours with Sothis’s power, and she doesn’t remember recently being in a dark room with Claude.

“Claude, where are we?”

“I’m not sure, is this a goddess power thing? How did you get us out of Shambhala?”

She stiffens at that and uses his arms to push herself up as she looks at him in alarm. “You remember?”

She can barely make out his confused expression in the dim light as he grips her arms to steady her. “Remember? We were just at Shambhala. You killed Thales but he had already called the javelins of light. Are you alright?” He asks again.

Instead of answering, she calls forth a small flicker of flame in her hands and surveys the room, recognizing it with some confusion. 

It’s _ her _room.

It’s cleaner than when she had left it the day before with fewer papers scattered on her table, the inkwell is still full, and even stranger, she realizes that her books are still on the shelf. The same missing books that had been pilfered back when Garreg Mach first fell.

“Uh, Teach?” Byleth follows Claude’s gaze and realizes her old school calendar is on the wall, each square cramped and dark with her notes for the day and then crossed out as time marches on. The notes aren’t what he’s focused on however, and the flame in her hand almost goes out when she sees the date on the calendar.

_ Imperial year 1180 _.


	2. Chapter 2

_ ??? day of the ??? Moon in the Imperial year 1180 _

“So… you can turn back time.”

After a moment of staring at the calendar, Byleth had drawn open the curtain, finally letting in some light into the room and the two had settled at her table to try and orient themselves.

“I can turn back time,” she affirms, searching Claude’s face for a reaction. She had expected disbelief, but he just looks thoughtful as if something had clicked into place.

“Since when? And how far back can you go?”

“I’ve only ever able to go back a few hours at most, but this time...” she trails off. Finally sitting down, she realizes it wasn’t just her chest aching, but her entire body. Now that the adrenaline has worn off, the scrapes and bruises across her body burn in pain. Another oddity.

Claude looks as tired as she feels in his blood spattered armor and dragon silks. He sighs, running his gloved hands through his tousled hair and shoots her a weary smile. “A part of me wants to think this is a really elaborate prank, but considering it’s you, Teach…”

“You say that as if I perform these strange feats on purpose,” she replies wryly. 

She gets a faint grin at that before his expression returns to a thoughtful frown. “You’ve used this power before, right? What’s different?”

“When I used divine pulse in the past, I returned to the state that I was at that moment,” she gestures to her chipped and dirty armor. “That’s not what happened this time. I’ve also never been able to bring someone back with me. I’m not sure what happened.”

“Maybe it was a particularly desperate moment?” He suggests. “I’ve heard stories of people suddenly gaining the strength to lift entire carriages in dire situations.”

“No, I’ve only ever used it—” She cuts herself off and looks away with a grimace. “I don’t think that’s it.”

It’s not something she likes to think about. She tries to push it out of her mind, move forward with the same impassive expression as she always has, but unbidden, on some nights, she relives their deaths in her nightmares. Enemy cavalry running through Ignatz with their lances. A demonic beast throwing Leonie into the air like a limp ragdoll. A warrior who got too close and cleaved through Lysithea. 

And in another memory, Claude, calling out to Dimitri at Gronder to _ stop _ before—

“My friend.”

She jolts at cool leather of his gloves on her face, but doesn’t resist when he gently turns her to face him. “How long have you had to watch us die?”

She sighs, hesitating for a moment before giving in to the urge to lean into his touch. “Claude… I—”

“Professor? The morning bell rang a while ago are you alright?”

Both Byleth and Claude jolt back from one another, knocking over their chairs with a clatter as some familiar faces peek into her room with a gasp.

“I’m so sorry!” Hilda exclaims with a delighted squeal as Lorenz and Marianne stand behind her, their faces red.

Byleth can feel a similar flush rising until she takes in their appearance. Their uniforms.

They’re so _ young _.

Byleth shoots a glance at Claude only to see him doing his best to hide behind her bed. Considering that the space wouldn’t be enough to fit Flayn much less a grown man, his attempt is admirable.

She sighs, “Don’t you three know to knock before entering someone’s room?”

“My deepest apologies, Professor! I tried to stop Hilda, but—” 

“You didn’t show in the classroom so we came to check on you,” Hilda interrupts Lorenz as she tries to peer around Byleth to get a look at Claude. She’s covering her mouth behind her hands, but Byleth can clearly see the giddy grin she’s hiding.

“I lost track of time. I’ll be there shortly,” Byleth says flatly as she easily blocks Hilda’s view, face unmoving when the girl pouts at her in disappointment.

“I-I think we should head back,” Marianne murmurs and Lorenz nods furiously in agreement. “Let’s go, Hilda.”

Byleth ushers them out and is about to close the door when Marianne quietly adds, “Ah, I like what you’ve done with your hair, Professor.”

The three students leave, Lorenz half dragging a pouting Hilda behind them as Byleth stares after them blankly.

“It’s the 31st day of the Blue Sea Moon,” Claude grunts from behind her as he pulls himself up and ambles over to the calendar with a frown. 

“According to your notes… this is five days after the Rite of Rebirth. When you got sword of the creator,” he continues, “Exactly five years from when we launched— uh will launch? Our attack on Shambhala.”

“Claude.”

Although she says his name, she doesn’t say anything as she busily changes out of her bloody holy robes and scrubs at the flecks of blood on her face with water from the basin at the base of her bed. After a moment of thought, she unstraps the Sword of the Creator and places it in the basin. He waits for her to finish and chuckles slightly when she tosses on her coat, rising to help her clip it into place under her spaulders.

She’s gathering the scattered papers on her desk, lecture notes she hopes, when she finally asks him, “Claude, what color are my eyes?”

“Uh, green?”

She _ tsks _and turns to him fully, staring him in the eyes. “Are they still green?”

He returns her gaze with a slight flush and a confused look before the realization dawns on him.

She nods tersely before opening the door and glancing at Claude one last time. “Don’t let anyone in unless it’s me. If you _ have _to leave, don’t let anyone see you.”

The lazy grin and salute he gives is more worrying than reassuring, but she restrains the urge to roll her eyes and closes the door, hearing the click of her lock immediately after. Part of her wonders if she should be worried about him being in her room alone. Another part of her knows he’s probably snuck into her room at one point or another. It’s not like she has anything to hide.

Instead worrying about him, she focuses on the papers she had grabbed. One is a notice from Seteth, while another is a request letter from one of the Knights of Seiros. Thankfully, the rest are lecture notes and details on the Deer’s development in her handwriting. Some parts are a little lacking, but it's enough to give her an idea of what she was supposed to be teaching.

Okay. She can do this.

“Hey, Teach! Glad you could make it!”

She had braced herself to see the former Golden Deer, young and innocent again, but she can't help her sharp intake of breath when Claude waves at her from his seat near the front. He’s still talking but she can’t seem to understand what he’s saying over the roar of noise in her head. 

That voice, that face, that _ smile _. 

It’s all the same as the man hiding in her room but it’s... colder.

“Gotta say, I didn’t think you were the type to bring back a— Teach?” Claude breaks off, staring at her. Distantly, she realizes that she has dropped some of her papers.

“A gentleman shouldn’t inquire in the affairs of ladies, Claude,” Lorenz chides from his own seat as Ignatz and Leonie kneel to pick up the scattered papers.

“Aw, but aren’t you curious about the kind of guy that can catch Teach’s eye?” The smile has returned to his face but Claude’s eyes are watching her carefully. _ He’s wary of her _ she realizes and it’s as if a wave crashes upon her, dragging her, cold and gasping, back into reality. 

“Thank you,” she nods to Ignatz and Leonie as they hand her back the papers. Ignatz’s face is slightly red, and he can’t look her in the eye while Leonie looks like she wants to ask, but Byleth doesn’t give her a chance. She briskly walks to the front desk and turns to sweep an impassive gaze over her Golden Deer, her face blank and her tone neutral.

“You all can gossip in your own time. Today, we will be talking about formations and group tactics.”

* * *

This is nowhere near the first time Claude’s been in Byleth’s room considering their near weekly tea parties and nigh nightly strategy meetings. 

As he dresses down to his undershirt and sinks his own bloodstained armor into the water basin, he guiltily reflects that this also isn’t his first time in her room without her. Of course with little to no personal effects, his Teach remained an enigma for much of their early days together in the academy. 

After carefully making sure that the water wouldn’t overflow, he turned to her cabinets, knowing she kept a first aid kit in the first drawer to the right. From there he methodically began to clean and assess his wounds.

In the rush of combat, it was always hard to account for every nick and bruise, but thankfully he is relatively unscathed with only a shallow cut on his arm from a stray arrow.

“Didn’t even bother to check for wounds. Hope she’s alright,” he mutters to himself as he closes the kit and places it back in its drawer. It’s when he turns, he sees it glinting under her bed in the morning light.

_ Is that...a second Sword of the Creator? _

He pulls the blade from under the bed, glancing between it and the bloody sword in the basin. He drops onto the bed with a groan, holding up the sword, half expecting it to suddenly begin glowing that tell tale red.

_ It wouldn’t be the strangest thing that’s happened today _ , he thinks but it remains inert, and he grins ruefully before laying it on the floor and staring up at the ceiling. _ It was worth a shot. _

Claude always knew she caused miracles, _ gods _, she is a miracle, but this is even beyond what she thought she could do. He isn’t sure what this means and her own confusion about the situation doesn’t bode well. He dimly realizes that she hadn't mentioned how long she's had this ability, but that's a far less pressing concern than what she can do with it. She had mentioned being able to turn back time, but never said anything about turning it forward. 

_ What about everyone else trapped in Shambhala? What if we can’t get back? We were so close to the end of the fighting... _

Claude pushes those thoughts away immediately. There’s no point in worrying about what ifs and things they can’t control. He needs to focus on what they _ can _do with the knowledge they have.

_ We could prevent the war. _

Assassinating Edelgard would be a simple task considering Claude as he is should not exist at this time. All it would take is a poison or a carefully aimed arrow…

Still, a part of Claude balks at the idea. He had largely agreed with Edelgard’s goals and ideals. It was her methods, her brutality that he could not make peace with. If they could have found a way to convince her that she did not have to walk her path alone... if they could have reached a common ground before it all began...

And that isn’t considering the upheaval that an assassination could cause... and how Those Who Slither In the Dark may act. Claude doesn’t know how far their claws reach within the Imperial bureaucracy, but considering their involvement with Lysithea’s family alongside the Imperial army after the Hrym rebellion, it is far deeper than he likes.

They can’t be rash about this, but they can’t just sit on their hands and do _ nothing _.

_ What is the right move? _ Claude wonders as the warmth of the sun and the day’s exhaustion finally lull him into sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> If you've been following my twitter, you might know that I got a really self indulgent idea that I've been slowly outlining for weeks now. 
> 
> Well here it is! A lot of setting up the first chapter but it feels good to finally get this out.
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/Tesereil)


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